Monday, March 1, 2010

"Vast quantities of data are freely available on the Web, and it can be a potential treasure trove for many businesses--providing they can figure out how to use it effectively.

A company can, for example, comb through data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and court records prior to acquiring another company to see if any of its intellectual property is tied up in legal action. In practice, however, going through so much information takes time and effort to orchestrate.

IBM hopes that a new tool, called BigSheets, will help users analyze Web data more easily. The company has developed a test version of the software for the British Library."